GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Dealing with challenging winds on a tough course on Saturday in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship, the Duke women’s golf team carded a 303 and holds a nine-stroke lead heading into the final round at the 6,163-Yard, Par 71 Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

“It was a challenging day,” said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. “The wind was blowing sometimes not at all, sometimes a two or three-club wind and it was changing direction. I have never really seen wind like that. I have seen wind change but changing in two different ways that strongly is pretty interesting. These greens don’t need to be dried out, they are already rolling really fast. It was just a very challenging day. It got under our skin. We didn’t have a great day. We got a lot of help from Carolina today. We need to get better because Carolina can come back and they are a good team. We have to get better.”

The Blue Devils are looking for their 17th ACC Championship and the first since 2008 as Duke holds a 36-hole total of 583 and leads by nine over reigning champion North Carolina (592) with 18 holes remaining. Florida State (602), Virginia (603), Wake Forest (603), Maryland (609), N.C. State (613), Boston College (618) and Miami (626) rounded out the field.

“We are really excited about being in this position,” said Duncan. “We have a great opportunity tomorrow. I think it is going to be a really tough test and I think we are all looking forward to it.”

With a two-under-par, 69, on Saturday, Duke junior Lindy Duncan leads the individual action by five strokes over first round leader and Blue Devil teammate Alejandra Cangrejo. A product of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Duncan has posted back-to-back under-par rounds and is at three-under-par through 36 holes. The No. 1 ranked golfer in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, Duncan collected five birdies on the day, including four on the front nine.

“Just keep doing the same things - trying to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, which is not very easy to do out here,” commented Duncan on the upcoming final round. “The more you can get on that green, get two-putts and get a par the better you are going to be off.”

She opened with a par on the first hole before sticking her approach within two feet on the challenging 392-yard, par four second hole. Duncan rolled in her first birdie of the day, which was only the second birdie on No. 2 in the second round. After hitting it long and to the left on her approach on the par three third hole, she could not get up and down for a bogey. From then on to close the front nine Duncan was solid with birdies on No. 5, No. 8 and No. 9 to make the turn at three-under-par, 32.

On the back, Duncan suffered a bogey on No. 10, but hit her approach on the 152-yard, par three 12th hole to 12 feet and made her final birdie of the day. Duncan made five straight pars before suffering an unlucky bogey on No. 18, after she was past the green in two. She hit a team-best 13 greens, nine fairways and had 30 putts on the day.

“I asked her to talk to the team a little bit and she said she is just trying to get it on the green anywhere,” said Brooks on Duncan’s play. “With these greens, it is good to be in the right part of the green but she is working hard to try to get on that green somewhere so she is rolling a lot of putts. That means the wind is really affecting them. With someone that hits it as straight as she does, she is just finding some place to get it on the green.”

After firing a two-under-par, 69, on day one and holding the individual lead, Cangrejo carded a four-over-par, 75, and sits second overall with a 144. Cangrejo, who is from Bogota, Colombia, had an interesting front nine with three birdies, four bogeys and two pars on her way to shooting an one-over-par, 36. She registered birdies on No. 1, No. 5 and No. 9 on the front.

Cangrejo had back-to-back bogeys on No. 10 and No. 11 to drop to three-over to open the final nine. She got in trouble on the 445-yard, par five 15th and finished with a double-bogey, but closed solid with a two-foot birdie on No. 18 to finish with a 77. She hit eight fairways, nine greens and had 31 putts.

Coming off closing strong on Friday in the first round with four birdies over her final six holes to finish even par, sophomore Laetitia Beck struggled on Saturday to finish with a 79. A native of Caesarea, Israel, Beck had two birdies on the day, which came on the front nine. She had problems all day on the greens as Beck finished with 34 putts. Beck also hit seven fairways and 11 greens. She is tied for 13th with a 150 heading into the final round.

Junior Stacey Kim will enter Sunday’s final round tied for 15th, after posting rounds of 70 and 81 for a total of 151. Kim, a native of Columbus, Ga., had a rough start and was eight-over-par through six holes. She settled down and played the next eight holes at two-under-par, but ran into trouble on No. 15 and finished with a nine. On the day, Kim had a team-high 37 putts, while hitting 11 greens and seven fairways. Through two rounds, there have been only five birdies on the 385-yard, par four 11th hole and Kim has two of those.

Courtney Ellenbogen, a junior out of Blacksburg, Va., posted an 80 in the second round and is tied for 33rd overall with a 157. She hit six greens, seven fairways and had 32 putts on the day as she totaled her only birdie of the day on No. 15. Big numbers hurt Ellenbogen on the day as she suffered three double-bogeys.

“Pretty much the same thing we have been talking about,” commented Brooks on what he will tell the team going into the final round. “Manage your expectations. It is a very challenging golf course. Don’t let yourself get impatient. It is tough.”

As a team, Duke posted 15 birdies and over the first two days has 32 birdies. A day after carding four birdies on the par five 15th, the Blue Devils played the hole at seven-over-par on Saturday. Duke will tee off on Sunday in the final round beginning at 9:40 a.m., along with North Carolina and Florida State.

“You really have to be out there focusing on what you are doing,” said Duncan about the possibility of earning a team and individual title. “You cannot really focus on what anyone else is doing. Sneaking a peak at the leaderboard, hoping we are still up there would be great. If we see some good shots from our teammates, we will give a clap here and there would be really nice to see.”

Notes:

• Lindy Duncan is the first Duke player to break par in each of the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament since Amanda Blumenherst did it in 2007.

• Lindy Duncan is the 11th player overall and the sixth Blue Devil to break par in each of the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament. Those 11 players have done it a total of 14 times.

• Only two players have broken par in all three rounds of the event. Cheyenne Woods of Wake Forest did it last year at Sedgefield (70-70-68) and Duke’s Brittany Lang (67-69-68) accomplished the feat in 2004 at Salem Glen CC in Clemmons. Both of those courses are par-71 layouts.

• Lindy Duncan will be looking to become the 11th Duke player to win individual honors at the ACC Championship and the first since Amanda Blumenherst in 2008.